Cowboy Who Came For Christmas

Adan introduced himself and walked over to shake Jacob’s hand. “Hello, sir.”

Jacob pushed up off the chair and shook Adan’s hand. “Hear you’re tracking a nasty criminal.”

“Yes, sir.” Adan explained what he was doing here. “Have y’all seen or heard anything?”

“Not a peep until you two showed up,” Jacob said on a grin.

“Hey there,” Jacob said to Sophia after grasping Adan’s hand, his ever-present pipe hanging like a leafless tree branch out of his whiskered mouth. What little bit of hair he had stood out around his head in white tufts that reminded Sophia of snow caught against limbs. “We’re just sitting here enjoying the fire.”

“Without any lights on, apparently,” Adan replied on a dry note. He turned to Bettye. “Sophia was concerned and when we went around to the side, we found one of your window screens lying in the bushes.”

Bettye brushed at her braid. “Been meaning to replace that.”

“Remind me when spring comes and I’ll take care of it,” Jacob said, his gray beard dancing. “A mite too cold out there tonight.”

Bettye eyed Adan and Sophia. “It’s late, but you’re both welcome to come in and sit awhile.”

She didn’t offer up anywhere to sit, however.

“Uh, no, we won’t stay,” Sophia replied, unable to hide her smile. “As long as you’re okay, Bettye.”

“She’s just fine,” Jacob said with another big grin and a strong bobble of a nod. “We were reminiscing about when we were young and in love.”

“With other people,” Bettye replied in a rush of words. “We both were married long ago, before the mountain claimed us.” She glanced down at her house booties, a sly smile hanging off her cheery face. “Now we enjoy sitting by the fire.”

“Uh-huh,” Adan replied, his lips twitching. He glanced at his watch. “It is late. Sophia, I think we should leave these two young’uns alone.”

Bandit meandered out of the bedroom, his ears flopping and his nose in the air. After sniffing at Adan and then stopping in front of Sophia for a fur rub, he sauntered over to the hooked rug in front of the fireplace and plopped down.

“Some watchdog you are,” Sophia said, walking over to bend and pet him again. After giving Bandit a thorough belly rub, she stood and said, “Okay, now that I’ve embarrassed everyone, I’m going back to my own cabin.”

Bettye came over to give her a hug. “Jacob and I’ll sit a bit longer, then I’ll send him on his way.” She leaned in. “I did hear a noise earlier, honey. I used the old-fashioned message system. I flicked the porch light three times. Jacob saw it and came over straight away.”

“You should come home with me,” Sophia said, her gaze scurrying toward where Adan was making small talk with Jacob. She’d wondered if Jacob had been climbing in and out of that window, but that image just didn’t jive with his arthritic arms and legs. Maybe he was a back-door man.

Bettye shook her head then lifted a hand toward Jacob. “Are you kidding me? I been waiting for this man to catch me—this man sitting in the rocking chair, that is—for about three years now. Fate has a way of working in our favor sometimes.” She shot a covert glance at Adan. “Bad guy on the loose, nice-looking Ranger in the house, Jacob in my rocking chair. Fate.”

“I don’t need this kind of fate,” Sophia retorted, her gaze hitting on Adan. Then she looked Bettye in the eye. “Maybe we can talk in private tomorrow.”

“Sure thing,” Bettye said, stepping back. “Sorry about scaring you,” she said a bit louder for Adan’s benefit.

After a few more questions from Jacob about Adan’s being a Ranger, Sophia and Adan left to face the brutal cold once again. Adan had given them a description of Joe Pritchard before urging them to be alert. He did one more thorough check on the bushes around Sophia’s cabin, but turned up nothing.

Maybe the prowler was gone, or worse, frozen in the snow. Sophia could hope that, right?

When they were safely inside her cabin, she turned to give Adan a solemn stare. And found him standing there with a wide grin on his face.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, completely captivated by his beautiful smile. Too captivated. The man dazzled her with gleaming toughness, but she needed to remember this was not a social call. He was here to do lawman business and she had to keep that in mind at all times.

He lifted a dark eyebrow. “Did we just walk in on a...senior hookup?”

Sophia gasped then clamped a hand over her mouth. “No. I mean, no. I don’t know. I... I don’t think so. Not yet, at least. Bettye isn’t that kind of girl.”

“You’re blushing,” he said, his smile dying on his lips while his eyes heated to liquid gold. “And you’re smiling.”

Trying to deflect the sizzle of his eyes moving over her, Sophia shook her head. “So are you. I didn’t think Rangers knew how to smile.”

His eyebrows lifted while he stared her down. “And what exactly do you know about Rangers?”

“Not nearly enough,” she said on a sassy huff. “Or in your case, way more than I ever wanted to know.”

Such as, he would arrest her if he knew the truth. Or maybe that his smile could definitely change her attitude from standoffish to come closer.

No, never mind that!

“But I still don’t know a lot about you,” he said, his gaze melting her chill away. And scaring it right back in a shivering slide down her backbone.

“You know enough.”

He grinned and headed to drop another log on the fire. “What a night.”

“Full of lots of revelations,” Sophia said, reminding herself to be careful. He was being charming now that they were alone. Did he plan on tormenting her with his commanding presence until she gave in and spilled her guts?

Even that thought made her blush.

“And full of lots of secrets,” he retorted, his grin tapering off to a solid, unyielding poker face.

The man was truly like a dog with a bone.

“So we have a snowstorm, a criminal on the loose and two old people making eyes at each other.”

Not to mention her being here with Adan in a cabin in a snowstorm, alone. Trapped.

He stepped so close she could smell the snowdrift all around him. “And...one very pretty woman who isn’t telling the truth.”

* * *

SOPHIA STARTED MAKING the sofa into his sleeping quarters, probably to avoid the accusation in his words. After fluffing blankets and tucking sheets, she said, “So you’re back on that?”

Adan watched her face for lies but in the flickering golden light from the fire all he saw was a secretive confusion. Was she hiding something? Was she hiding someone? Would the snow ever melt?

The snow she had around her heart, that was. This woman obviously had something to hide and she seemed to have a major distrust of law enforcement.

Not so much a hard heart, but maybe a bruised one.

“I’m good at my job,” he replied, once again taking in the bright colors and quirky artwork that filled every surface of her little home. “I’ll get the truth out of everyone around here, sooner or later.”

“I figure you’ll have to go back to Texas—sooner than later, I hope.”

Adan decided to mess with her a little bit. “Until that storm clears, I got nothing but time, darlin’. And you got nobody else to talk to tonight.”

She whirled to give him a feminine frown. “And what makes you think I’m lying? Haven’t I tried to cooperate with you and answer all of your questions?”

He had to grin again at that. “You held a gun on me and tied me up but yes, you’ve been very cooperative. But as I said before, I couldn’t help but notice you got scared, extremely scared, when you found that wanted poster on your back door.”

She lowered her head then crossed her arms over her stomach. “That was silly and I shouldn’t have reacted that way. Probably one of our neighbors went down the mountain and ran into someone passing those out. Any one of my friends could have left that on my door just to warn me.”

“A passable explanation, but not on a night like this.”

She peeked out the kitchen window. “Criminals don’t care about the weather.”

“True. But why would a neighbor wait until so late in the day to leave posters on doors? And why didn’t Bettye mention having one on her door?”

Sophia whirled around and took her time putting fresh pillowcases on the two pillows she’d pulled out of the hallway closet. “I don’t know. I just reacted to seeing that right after you showed up here. Too much excitement and you with all your talk of some dangerous man on the run.”

Adan stared over at her with purposeful intent. “A dangerous man who obviously came to Crescent Mountain for a reason.”

She got that fearful look again but quickly cleared it and gave him a defiant chin lift. “Maybe he knows someone around here.”

A roundabout confession? “Maybe so.”

The room grew uncomfortably quiet.

Deciding to back off for now, Adan stifled a yawn. “Sorry. I guess I’m more beat than I realized.”

“Me, too,” she said on an eager sigh. “I hope this will be okay.”

He nodded toward the blanket and fluffy pillows. “Looks like heaven.” He took off his hat and laid it on the coffee table then shrugged. “I’ve slept in worse places.”

She gave him an appraising glance. “I guess you have at that.”

“I’ll be fine.”

He wanted to say more, but it had been a while since he’d been in a forced confinement with a woman. Adan’s rule was to keep moving fast so no woman would ever try to tie him down the way his ex-wife had. And yet this one had already tied him up. He’d have to bear that in mind until the snow stopped falling. No telling what she’d try if he actually fell asleep.

“Okay, then, I’m, uh, going to bed.” She motioned toward the bathroom. “I’ll just be a minute then you can take a shower if you’d like. Towels underneath the sink. And I think I have several unopened toothbrushes from our many trips into town. Jacob always brings everyone a new toothbrush. He’s a retired dentist.”

Adan nodded and grinned. “He did have white teeth.”

She put a hand to her mouth and reminded him of his daughter, girly and giggly. But this particular girl was all grown-up and way too enticing.

“I guess I have missed a few clues around here,” she admitted. “Did not see that one coming.”

“I think they make a cute couple,” he replied. “But I’ll have to question them again. And everyone else on this mountain, too. I need you to understand that, Sophia.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” she replied, her playful expression changing as an aggravated frown arrowed its way up her forehead. “You do what you need to do. And we’ll do the same.”

“Is that a threat?”

“I have no reason to threaten you.”

“Then be honest with me so I don’t have to threaten you.”

“I’m tired,” she replied. “And I’m going to bed.”

And the moment was gone.

In a whirl worthy of an award-winning actress, she turned and strutted into the bathroom and slammed the door.

But the warning had been very clear.

Sophia and her merry band of followers would not make his job easy. He’d have to do some investigating when this weather cleared. If this weather cleared.

Something wasn’t right about Sophia’s reaction to that poster. Either she knew the man in the picture or she’d seen him recently. Why would she withhold information on a dangerous man?

Maybe because she might be the reason that man had come to this mountain?

Adan grunted and sank down on the sofa and removed his boots. Sometimes, his job really got the best of him.

But at no time on a case had a woman ever gotten the best of him.

Not yet, at least.

CHAPTER SIX

ADAN DOZED WITH one eye open.

He must have finally fallen into a deep sleep only to wake up to sunshine and the smell of coffee. With a grunt, he sat up on the sofa and looked around. In the light of day, this place was cozy and comfortable even if it wasn’t much bigger than a horse stall. The room was colorful and full of little woman things—embroidery and lace, fluffy pillows and crocheted quilts, vases and picture frames. Dainty things. Which only made him feel like a stallion in a henhouse.

When he heard noise in the kitchen, he first checked his hands and feet for any ropes or tape. None there. Then he checked her for signs of a weapon. Nothing there, either. She wore a too-big flannel shirt and slim gray sweatpants and fuzzy boots. Her hair, caught up in a haphazard twist, was a loose rich auburn that burned bright in the light of day. Sophia looked earthy and right at home as she scooted around the small U-shaped efficiency kitchen.

He hitched a breath then got aggravated at himself. This woman was lying through her pretty white teeth and somehow, he had to get around all that cuteness and find the truth. He didn’t like lying women. Only reminded him of Gaylen’s absent mother, Helena. She’d lied to him from the day they’d met and she’d lied even as she’d walked out the door, never to return. Helena hadn’t wanted a baby and she sure hadn’t wanted him. She’d used him as a means to an end—to get out from under her powerful father’s thumb. Well, now she was living high on the hog with the rich man she’d always wanted. Good for her.

He missed Gaylen with the kind of ache that brought a man to his knees. He’d get home to her soon. Somehow.

Adan scowled over at the woman in the kitchen, trying to associate that pretty countenance with that of a liar.

Hard to do.

“You’re up,” she said, her smile not so sure-footed.

Adan realized he’d been staring and pushed at his hair and grunted. “Yes, and... I’m still alive.”

“Don’t worry, I thought about doing you in but decided against it since I didn’t want to drag you out there and leave you like a frozen lump.” She smiled and brought him a huge cup of steaming coffee. “I have biscuits and ham in the oven.”

Her serene attitude threw him. It was completely opposite of her skittish, worried mind-set last night. If she was hiding something she sure didn’t seem too worried about it this morning. Or maybe she’d successfully helped Pritchard escape and she was bluffing until she could figure out how to get rid of Adan. In the meantime, he’d bide his time and get some answers out of her. And watch her like a hawk.

He took the coffee with a grateful nod. “Do you always get up at the crack of dawn?”

“Most days,” she replied. “I like to work in the early light.”

He glanced around at the various forms of artwork. “So you’re an artist?”

“Yes. Mixed media.”

“Mixed what?”

She went back to the kitchen and opened the oven. “It’s just using several different ways of creating an art piece. Layering different textures and materials onto one canvas.”

“Right.”

She laughed and pointed to a big structure hanging over the fireplace. “I made that piece out of old fence boards, buttons and jewelry.”

Adan studied the piece of art and decided it did look like part of a fence. Then he saw it. “It’s the mountain. A vista.” He moved closer, amazed at the striking piece of art. “I don’t know art from Adam,” he said, “but this is real pretty.”

She smiled, obviously pleased that he’d guessed right and probably glad she’d managed to distract him. “There’s one spot down near the stream running behind the cabins where the view is incredible. I go there a lot for inspiration.”

“And so you recreated that view of the mountain with old wood and other things?”

“Yep. I go into town once or twice a month and leave a couple of pieces in the art gallery. Sometimes I go with Bettye to the arts-and-crafts shows held in several of the towns around the Ozarks and we set up a booth. She makes quilts and does embroidery on pillows and hand towels.”

That explained all the dainty stuff exploding in this room.

“Is that how you make your living?”

She stilled at that. “Yes. And I saved up before I came here.”

Okay, there it was again. A subtle evasiveness that he immediately recognized. She wasn’t telling him everything, but he only needed to know the part where Joe Pritchard came into the picture. Adan knew patience wasn’t his virtue but decided to take it easy since she was slowly opening up to him. He needed to get Pritchard and get back to Texas. First, he wanted to check on his truck and maybe move it back here near the cabins, and then he’d figure out what to do next.

He waited to see what Sophia was doing. When she started toward him with two biscuits on a plate, he stood. “I can eat that at the table.”

She shook her head. “No, here by the fire.”

“Okay.” He took the plate and stared at it for a full minute.

“Is something wrong?” she asked as she curled up in a big, broken-in leather chair, her legs tucked up under her.

“Just checking for glass or maybe poison mushrooms.”

She looked confused. “Oh, you think I’m still out to do you in?”

He sniffed at the wonderful smells coming from the plate. “Aren’t you?”

She shook her head. “If that were the case, I had all night to do it. And yet, like you said, you’re still alive.”

He leaned back and took a sip of the coffee. The taste was rich and dark and fresh, like that head of hair cascading around her face. Then he bit into the biscuit.

“Hmm, pretty good.”

“Bettye taught me how to cook,” she explained, her blue eyes going soft. “She knows how to cure ham in a smokehouse. She grew up on a farm in Alabama.”

“How’d she wind up here?”

“I’m not sure. She doesn’t like to talk about it, but I think after her husband died, she went into a deep depression. She told me once that she got in her car and drove until she found this mountain.”

“This sure must be a special place,” Adan said, his gaze taking in everything and seeing nothing out of the ordinary other than him sitting here among exotic paintings and twisted doodads eating a biscuit.

She nibbled at her own breakfast. “It’s a quiet, unassuming place. It’s peaceful and secure and...comfortable. I like a certain schedule and I like order. I’ve had enough chaos in my life.”

He zoomed right in on that last comment. “Care to talk about it?”

She looked so shocked, he figured she just now realized she’d mentioned her past. “No.”

“What brought you here?”

She glanced around as if searching for a good response. “Art. I like how everyone here is involved in folk art.”

“How did you find out that everyone here is an artist?”

She gave him a blank stare and shrugged. “Artists tend to find each other.”

“Why is everyone around here so tight-lipped?”

“You haven’t met everyone around here.”

“You have a way of answering a question with a counterstatement. Were you ever a lawyer?”

Shock again. “No. I just don’t like to talk about myself.”

“And why is that?”

She got up and threw another log on the fire. “You might be able to get out and walk around today. The snow and ice will be here awhile, so I doubt you’ll be able to get down the mountain today, but you can at least search for...that man.”

“You mean Joe Pritchard?”

Her hand stilled on a log before she tossed it into the fire. “Whoever he is.”

Hmm. A bit of defensiveness and deflection. She sure didn’t like to talk about herself and apparently, any wanted criminals, either. Adan’s burning gut told him Sophia knew more about Joe Pritchard than she was letting on. If he had any service on his phone he could run a check on her, too.

“I intend to get out and search for him,” he replied with a cool assurance that didn’t calm his stomach. Then he polished off the last of his second biscuit. “Thank you for breakfast.”

She turned and took his plate before he could set it down. “Want more coffee?”

“Sure.”

He got up and followed her into the tiny kitchen and, too late, realized this space wasn’t made for two people. They bumped together when she whirled to take his cup.

“Excuse me,” she said, a becoming blush moving down her cheeks. She lowered her gaze and held her head down.

“I can get my own coffee,” he said to fill the space.

“Let me get it.”

She took the cup right out of his hand, her fingers brushing his in a soft sizzle that surged through him all the way to the tips of his boots.

Adan backed up, regrouped and reminded himself he didn’t like entanglements of any kind. Even while he envisioned his hands entangled in all that rich auburn hair.

* * *

SOPHIA GRIPPED THE sink with one hand and scrubbed with all her might with the other hand. She hated stains.

And she also hated having Adan Harrison in her home. And she hated lying and hiding things.

But she had no other choice. Did she?

When she’d come into the kitchen earlier and seen his too-big body curled up on her too-small couch, she’d had to swallow back a shard of longing. She’d always imagined having someone special in her life, and she’d tried so hard to make that happen. Once. But once was enough for Sophia.

Having Adan asleep on her couch was one thing. Getting all fuzzy hearted and sentimental was quite another. So she’d reminded herself to stay away from the sleeping giant and to keep her hands and her daydreams to herself. After a sleepless night of trying to figure out what her next move could be, she’d decided she had to be nice to the big Texas Ranger. For now.

This man wasn’t here for a fling.

He’d come to this mountain to find a killer.

And she’d come to this mountain to escape. Just to escape.

Why was he here now and when would he leave? Who was out there taunting her? Her mind skittered over memories still too fresh to tuck away completely. Did someone know her sins?

Sophia stared at the sink and decided it was clean enough. She rinsed away the cleanser and washed out her dish towel, then dried her hands and grabbed her lotion bottle to moisturize them. Then she turned to tidy up the living room. Adan had folded his bedding and pillows and left them on the sofa. She touched a hand to one of the pillows and remembered his head touching that same spot.

The bathroom door opened, causing her to jump back like a kid caught with her hand in the candy jar.

Adan walked into the room, chewing up space with each step. “I’m gonna walk down the mountain to check on my truck.”

Relief flooded through her. He’d be out of her hair for a couple of hours so she’d have a chance to talk to Bettye. Trying not to sound too happy, she said, “Oh, okay. Be careful.”

“You’re going with me.”

Panic scurried across Sophia’s nerve endings. “What? Why?”

He stood by the fire, his hands in his pockets. “Don’t look so scared. I need you to be my guide and to help me with spotting any signs of activity out there. You know these woods better than me.”

She did know these woods. She also knew how to steer him away from places he didn’t need to go. Her heart beat in little skips and jumps, but she didn’t have a choice in this matter, either. She would have to serve not only as Adan’s guide, but his guard, too.

She ran a hand over her hair. “I’ll get my gear.”

He gave her a puzzled glance. “I figured you’d protest and stomp your foot and come up with some good excuses.”

Sophia quirked an eyebrow. “Would that have worked?”

He laughed at her remark. “No. I’d still take you with me.”

“Even if I refused to go?”

“That would only make me suspicious.”

“You mean even more suspicious than you already are?”

“Yeah. Even more.”

She went about putting on her hat, gloves and coat so she could hide the fear and disappointment his words brought out. “Why don’t we get going while the morning sun is bright and shiny? The snow won’t melt completely. Too cold out here.”

“Fine.”

That sun might shine a light on things she wanted to hide. But if she kept him on the road and out of the woods, they should be okay.